GW - I consider this first part just a formality with no real importance. According to the PR from KRY:

"The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources Director General who issued the letter has, under the administrative law of Venezuela, 15 business days to reply formally. If there is no reply, under law the answer is deemed to be negative. At that time, the Company has the legal right to appeal directly to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources who also has a set time (90 business days) to issue a finding. If at that time the answer is negative, Crystallex has a number of legal avenues to pursue both in and out of Venezuela in order to protect its shareholders' rights."

I would not expect them to answer. Nothing Ortega has said gives me pause that she or her goons would change their mind so I'd call this step just the formality needed to give KRY the right to go to higher levels. That time frame is 90 days.

IMHO it should have no impact if the first appeal gets no answer since that should be expected. But we all know how this stock plays.